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History

Contact | Courses | Faculty | Overview | Programs: Collaborative, Degree

Faculty Affiliation

Arts and Science

Degree Programs Offered

History – MA, PhD

Collaborative Programs

The following collaborative programs are available to students in participating degree programs as listed below:

1. Asia-Pacific Studies

  • History, MA

2. Book History and Print Culture

  • History, MA, PhD

3. Diaspora and Transnational Studies 

  • History, MA, PhD

4. Editing Medieval Texts

  • History, PhD

5. Ethnic and Pluralism Studies

  • History, MA, PhD

6. International Relations

  • History, MA

7. Jewish Studies

  • History, MA, PhD

8. Sexual Diversity Studies

  • History, MA, PhD

9. South Asian Studies

  • History, MA, PhD

10. Women and Gender Studies

  • History, MA, PhD

Overview

The Department of History offers a broadly diversified program of graduate studies leading to the Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees. The Department has a special strength in gender history, medieval history, transnational history, colonialism, the Americas, Europe, and Russia. Courses are offered in the history of Canada; the United States; Medieval, Early Modern and Modern Europe and Britain; Eastern Europe; Russia; Latin America; Africa; South Asia; East Asia; Southeast Asia; International Relations; the History of Medicine and Women’s History.

The University of Toronto also offers rich resources outside the department to support the study of history. The Robarts Research Library, unrivaled in Canada and among the leading university libraries in North America, provides a foundation for a wide range of study. Specialized collections are located elsewhere in the University including in a number of centres and research institutes. The Center for Medieval Studies and the Pontifical Institute have particularly strong resources for European and British medieval history. The Munk Center for International Studies; the Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology; the Center of Criminology; the Institute for Urban and Community Studies; as well as the Center for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies afford additional opportunities for interdepartmental work. The Department participates in a number of interdisciplinary collaborative programs.

Contact and Address

Web: www.chass.utoronto.ca/history
E-mail: histgrad@chass.utoronto.ca
Telephone: (416) 978-3369

Department of History
University of Toronto
Room 2074, Sidney Smith Hall
Toronto, Ontario M5S 3G3
Canada

Degree Programs

History

Master of Arts

Minimum Admission Requirements 

  • The closing date for applications to the MA program is January 15. Later applications will be considered only in exceptional circumstances.
  • Four-year BA degree from the University of Toronto or a similar program elsewhere with at least a B+ standing.
  • Successful completion of at least 6.0 full-course equivalents (FCE) in history. Applicants without adequate history training may be required to complete an appropriate number of undergraduate history courses before being considered for admission. In rare cases, an applicant may be admitted to the MA program but will be required to do one or two courses in addition to the MA program requirements.
  • In addition to the School of Graduate Studies online application form, applicants must submit an information form, three letters of recommendation, a 500-word specific research proposal outlining a precise field and area of historical investigation, and a writing sample of no more than 3,000 words.
  • Applicants who were educated outside Canada, whose primary language is not English, and who graduated from a university where the language of instruction was not English must demonstrate facility in the English language through the successful completion of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) with scores of at least:

o Paper-based TOEFL exam: 600 with 5 on the Test of Written English
o Internet-based TOEFL exam: 100/120 with 22/30 on the writing and speaking sections.

Program Requirements

  • Students usually complete the MA by course work and the HIS 2000Y paper. Some students may elect to complete the MA by course work and thesis.
  • After consulting with the graduate coordinator, all MA students are required to take either HIS 1997H or HIS 1201H.
  • Students must achieve at least an overall B average in their courses to maintain standing.
  • Students must also pass the required reading examination in a language other than English.
  • The MA may be undertaken on a part-time basis; however, program requirements must be completed within a maximum of five years.

Course Work and Paper 

  • 2.5 full-course equivalents (FCE) (of which 0.5 must be either HIS 1997H or HIS 1201H) and the MA essay. Normally, up to 1.0 FCE may be taken outside the Department of History with the approval of the Associate Chair, Graduate.
  • Full-time MA students are expected to complete all degree requirements within 12 months of entering the program.

Course Work and Thesis 

  • 2.0 FCE (of which 0.5 must be either HIS 1997H or HIS 1201H) and present an MA thesis.
  • The thesis MA might take longer than the course MA. The thesis must be presented within five years of entering the program.

Normal Program Length

  • 3 sessions (full-time); 6 sessions (part-time)

Doctor of Philosophy

Minimum Admission Requirements 

  • The closing date for applications to the PhD program is January 15. Later applications will be considered only in exceptional circumstances.
  • Applicants may enter the PhD program via one of two routes:

o Normally, with an MA degree in history or its equivalent with an A- average or better.
o Exceptional students may be admitted by direct entry to the PhD program from the BA with an A- average or better,

  • Applicants must satisfy the Department of their ability to do independent research at an advanced level.
  • In addition to the School of Graduate Studies online application form, applicants must submit an information form, three letters of recommendation, a 500-word specific research proposal outlining a precise field and area of historical investigation, and a writing sample of no more than 6,000 words.
  • Applicants who were educated outside Canada, whose primary language is not English, and who graduated from a university where the language of instruction was not English must demonstrate facility in the English language through the successful completion of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) with scores of at least:

o Paper-based TOEFL exam: 600 with 5 on the Test of Written English
o Internet-based TOEFL exam: 100/120 with 22/30 on the writing and speaking sections.

Program Requirements 

  • Course work.

o With MA degree in history: 2.0 full-course equivalents (FCE) with a B+ average throughout course work.
o By direct entry: 4.5 FCE, one of which must be HIS 1997H. Students must maintain an A- average in their first 2.0 FCE in order to continue in the program.

  • Residence requirement. PhD students are required to be in residence until they have passed their field examinations but no longer than a period of two years. Students must be in such geographical proximity as to be able to visit the campus regularly and participate fully in the University’s activities associated with the program.
  • Comprehensive examinations in three approved fields of history. At the beginning of their programs, students consult with the Associate Chair, Graduate to determine their fields and students will be assigned advisors. Three fields are required: a major and two minors. The major should coincide with the subject area that the student has chosen for the thesis, and the two minors should be in different areas. The comprehensive field examinations consist of a written examination in each field and a common oral examination covering all three fields. Students are required to take their field examinations by the spring of their second year in the program, but they are strongly advised to take them as soon as possible after the completion of their course work. Examinations are held in January and April. Examinations cannot be postponed beyond the spring of the second year without permission of the Associate Chair, Graduate. The Department’s Web site contains a list of the fields offered.
  • Language requirements vary with the student’s major area of study. If not already so qualified, a student must qualify in one language other than English by the beginning of the second year and may be asked to qualify in other program-related languages.
  • Thesis. When all of the above requirements are completed, the candidate will proceed to write the PhD thesis and defend it at a final oral examination. The thesis must be a piece of original scholarship, approximately 350 pages or 90,000 words in length, exclusive of notes and bibliography. Thesis preparation is guided by a committee consisting of the major supervisor and two other faculty members. The thesis must be presented within six years of first enrolment in the PhD program.
  • Time to Completion. The thesis must be presented within six years of first enrolment in the PhD program.

Normal Program Length

  • 4 years (full-time PhD); 5 years (direct-entry PhD)

Course List

Not all courses are offered every year. Please consult the department’s list of current course offerings.

HIS 1004H History and Biopolitics
HIS 1006H Historiography “From Below”: Comparative and Critical Perspectives
HIS 1009H Colonial Governmentality: Governing Economy and Culture
HIS 1010H History by Numbers: The Uses and Misuses of Quantitative Evidence in History
HIS 1015H Colonial Encounters and Postcolonial Theory
HIS 1016H Readings in the History of Gender and Sexuality
HIS 1020H Cultural Theory/Cultural History
HIS 1026H Modernity and Its Others: History and Postcolonial (joint graduate/undergraduate)
HIS 1030H Oral History: Theory, Methods, Practice
HIS 1035H Historiography and Film Studies (joint graduate/undergraduate)
HIS 1036H Early Cinema
HIS 1101H Race and Gender in the Northern Colonies of North America
HIS 1104H Natives and Empires: Colonial History of the Americas, 1492-1800
HIS 1105H Colonial North America, 1600-1783
HIS 1106H Topics in Canadian Social History
HIS 1107H Religion, Culture and Society in Canada (joint graduate/undergraduate)
HIS 1109H Readings in Canadian History
HIS 1111H Topics in North American Environmental History (joint graduate/undergraduate)
HIS 1112H Canada in Comparative Contexts, Gender, Labour, Migration
HIS 1113H Politics and Society in North American History
HIS 1114H Indigenous Histories in North America
HIS 1142Y Canadian Foreign Relations, 1940-2003 (joint graduate/undergraduate)
HIS 1164H Irish Migration to Canada: Sources and Methods
HIS 1201H The Materials of Medieval History (Credit/No Credit)
HIS 1207H Pastoralia: The Medieval History of Pastoral Care
HIS 1208H Writings of Robert Grosseteste
HIS 1209H The Anglo-Saxons
HIS 1210H Gregory of Tours and the Sixth Century
HIS 1213H Medieval Institutes of Perfection (joint graduate/undergraduate)
HIS 1214H The Merovingians
HIS 1215H Social Change in Medieval England, 1154-1279
HIS 1218H The Mediaeval Church (joint graduate/undergraduate)
HIS 1220H Mediaeval Canon Law (joint graduate/undergraduate)
HIS 1221H Topics in Early Modern European Social History
HIS 1222H Ritual in Renaissance and Early Modern Europe
HIS 1223H Humanism and the Renaissance
HIS 1230H The Sexes in the Western World, 1450-1650
HIS 1231H Topics in French History
HIS 1232H European Colonialism, 1870-1970: A Comparative History
HIS 1233H Colonial Urbanism in the Mediterranean World, 1800-1950
HIS 1234H Readings in Early Modern French History
HIS 1235H History in/of the Mediterranean: From Braudel to Post-Colonialism
HIS 1237H France: 1870-1968
HIS 1245H Gender, Men and Women in Europe 1500-1900
HIS 1265H Atrocities and Memory in Postwar Europe and North America
HIS 1267H Nationalism
HIS 1268H The Holocaust and World War II
HIS 1269H The Social History of Medicine in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries (joint graduate/undergraduate)
HIS 1270H History of Psychiatry and Psychiatric Illness (joint graduate/undergraduate)
HIS 1271H Modern Political Trials
HIS 1272H Topics in Twentieth-Century European History
HIS 1275H Imperial Germany, 1871-1918
HIS 1276H The Third Reich and the Holocaust
HIS 1277H Topics in Jewish History
HIS 1278H Topics in Twentieth-Century German History
HIS 1279H World War II in East Central Europe (joint graduate/undergraduate)
HIS 1280Y History and Soviet Cinema (joint graduate/undergraduate)
HIS 1281H History of Real Socialism
HIS 1282H Totalitarian Culture
HIS 1283H Crusades, Conversion and Colonization in the Medieval Baltic (joint graduate/undergraduate)
HIS 1284H The Baltic World
HIS 1285Y The Ukrainian National Revival (joint graduate/undergraduate)
HIS 1286H Categories of Imperial Russian Social History
HIS 1287H Polish Jews Since the Partitions of Poland (joint graduate/undergraduate)
HIS 1288H The Age of Experiments (joint graduate/undergraduate)
HIS 1289H The Cold War Through Its Archives
HIS 1290H Topics in Imperial Russian History
HIS 1291H Topics in Russian and Soviet Social History (joint graduate/undergraduate)
HIS 1292H The Russian Revolution (joint graduate/undergraduate)
HIS 1293Y Kievan Rus’ (joint graduate/undergraduate)
HIS 1294H In the Soviet Archives: Text and History (joint graduate/undergraduate)
HIS 1295H Soviet History Seminar
HIS 1296H Stalinism and After: Beyond Cold War History
HIS 1297H Problems of National Survival in Eastern Europe Since 1848 (joint graduate/undergraduate)
HIS 1299H Topics in Russian Intellectual History
HIS 1411H Theory and Practice in Early Modern British History
HIS 1425H British Social Realism and Cinema
HIS 1435H Studies in Victorian Society
HIS 1440H Irish Nationalism in Canada and the United States (joint graduate/undergraduate)
HIS 1519H Thinking of Diversity: Historical Perspectives on American and Canadian Pluralisms
HIS 1522H Topics in Twentieth-Century U.S. History: Transnational Commodity Culture
HIS 1524H Topics in the History of Black America
HIS 1530H Readings in Twentieth Century American Foreign Policy
HIS 1531H American Political History Since 1877
HIS 1532H American Foreign Policy in the Cold War
HIS 1533H Gender and International Relations (joint graduate/undergraduate)
HIS 1535H Readings in International Relations History
HIS 1538H Reading in U.S. History
HIS 1539H Film Comedy and Popular Culture
HIS 1540H Cultures of American Capitalism
HIS 1543H Topics in Material Culture
HIS 1545H Race, Segregation and Protest: South Africa and the United States
HIS 1550H Atlantic Labour Migrations
HIS 1555H Gender and Slavery in the Atlantic World, Seventeenth to Nineteenth Century
HIS 1630H Appeasement
HIS 1632H International Relations Field Seminar
HIS 1637H Culture and the Cold War (joint graduate/undergraduate)
HIS 1663H Gender in East and Southeast Asia
HIS 1664H Religion and Society in Southeast Asia
HIS 1665H Gender and History in Colonial South Asia
HIS 1667H Transnational Gender Histories
HIS 1668H Topics in Early Modern Asian History
HIS 1673H Critical Historiography of Late Imperial and Modern China
HIS 1675H Imperial Circulation and Diasporic Flows in the British Empire
HIS 1677H Empire and Nation in Modern East Asia
HIS 1678H War and Memory in Twentieth-Century East Asia
HIS 1701H Religion, Society and Empire in the Colonial Spanish Americas, 1492-1800
HIS 1704H Latin America in the Age of Independence
HIS 1705H Africa: Writing, Colonialism and Memory
HIS 1706H Decolonizing Research Methodologies
HIS 1707H Topics in African History
HIS 1708H Labour in the Age of Imperialism
HIS 1709H Conversion and Christianities in the Early Modern Spanish World(joint graduate/undergraduate)
HIS 1710H Comparative Slavery in the Caribbean and Latin America
HIS 1784H The Islamic Revolution
HIS 1997H The Practice of History (Credit/No Credit)
HIS 1998H,Y Reading Course
HIS 1999H,Y Reading Course
HIS 2000Yo Directed Research
JBP 2230H Topics in International Politics
JHP 1289Y Twentieth Century Ukraine (joint graduate/undergraduate)
JHP 1631H Intelligence and International Relations
JHP 2231H The History and Philosophy of International Relations Thought
JHP 2301Y Linguistic and Cultural Minorities in Europe (joint graduate/undergraduate)

Courses in Other Departments Taught by History Faculty
COL 5027H Memory, Trauma, and History
COL 5044H A Journey from Petersburg to Los Angeles
MST 1110H Diplomatics and Diplomatic Editing
MST 1120H Literacy in Early Medieval Europe
MST 3201H Medieval Social History
MST 3205H Violence in Medieval Society (joint graduate/undergraduate)
MST 3225Y Jews and Christians in Medieval and Renaissance Europe (joint graduate/undergraduate)
MST 3242H The Carolingians and the Birth of Europe
MST 3243H Dark Age Italy
MST 3262H Monastic Identities
MST 3265H Hagiographies

Other Departments
Students may take courses from other departments for graduate history credit with permission of the Associate Chair, Graduate. Interested students should consult the appropriate calendar entries and departmental Web sites for current course offerings.

o Courses which may continue over a program. The course is graded when completed.

Graduate Faculty

Full Members

Abray, L Jane - BA, MA, MPH, PhD (Chair & Graduate Chair)
Aster, Sidney - BA, MA, PhD
Austin, Robert - BA, MA, PhD
Bartlett, Kenneth - BA, MA, PhD
Bender, Daniel Eric - BA, PhD
Bergen, Doris - MA, PhD
Birla, Ritu - BA, MPH, PhD
Blanchard, Peter - BA, PhD
Bohaker, Heidi - BA, BEd, MA, DPhil
Bothwell, Robert - BA, AM, PhD
Brown, Elspeth - MA, PhD
Chen, Li - BA, MA, AM, JD, PhD
Chin, Carol - BA, MA, PhD
Cochelin, Isabelle - DipdESup, BA, MA, PhD
Cohen, Paul - AM, PhD
Dowler, E Wayne - BA, AM, PhD
Eksteins, Modris - BPhil, BA, DPhil
Everett, Nicholas - BA, MA, PhD
Gervers, Michael - BA, MA, PhD
Goering, Joseph - BA, MA, MSL, PhD
Greer, Allan - BA, MA, PhD
Hall, Bert - BA, PhD
Halpern, Eric (Rick) - PhD
Hawkins, Sean - MA, PhD
Hood, Adrienne - PhD
Iacovetta, Franca - AB, AM, PhD
Ingham, John - BA, MA, PhD
Jenkins, Jennifer - BA, MA, PhD
Jennings, Eric - BA, PhD
Johnson, Robert - BA, PhD
Kasturi, Malavika - DPhil
Kawashima, Ken - BA, MA, PhD
Kazal, Russell - AB, MA, PhD
Keil, Charles - BA, MA, PhD
Kidd, Bruce - BA, AM, MA, PhD
King, Robert - AB, MA, PhD
Kivimae, Juri - AM, PhD
Lahusen, Thomas - MA, PhD
Lam, Tong - BSc, MA, PhD
Langins, Janis - BEng, MEng, MA, PhD
Loeb, Lori - BA, PhD (Coordinator of Graduate Studies)
MacDowell, Laurel - BA, MSc, PhD
MacMillan, Margaret - BPhil, DPhil
Magocsi, Paul - BA, MA, MA, PhD, Fell Royal Society Canada
Marrus, Michael - BA, MA, LLM, PhD
McGowan, Mark - BA, MA, PhD
Meyerson, Mark - BA, PhD
Mills, Kenneth - MA, PhD
Morgan, Cecilia Louise - BA, BA, MA, PhD
Mori, Jennifer - PhD
Murphy, Michelle - BA, PhD
Murray, Alexander - BA, PhD
Musisi, Nakanyike - PhD
Newton, Melanie - BA, PhD
Noel, Janet - BA, MA, PhD
Penfold, Steven - MA, PhD
Penslar, Derek - BA, MA, PhD
Phillips, James - LLB, MA, PhD
Pruessen, Ronald - BA, MA, PhD
Radforth, Ian - BA, MA, PhD
Retallack, James - BA, DPhil
Rockel, Stephen - AM, DPhil
Ross, Jill - MA, PhD
Rossos, Andrew - BA, MA, PhD
Rothman, Natalie - MA, DPhil
Schmid, Andre - BA, BA, MA, PhD
Sharma, Jayeeta - BA, MPH, MA, PhD
Shorter, Edward - BA, MA, PhD
Silano, Giulio - BA, LLB, BEd, MA, PhD
Smith, Alison - AM, PhD
Smyth, Denis - BA, PhD
Tambe, Ashwini - BA, MA, PhD
Tavakoli-Targhi, Mohamad - BA, MA, PhD
Terpstra, Nicholas - BA, MA, PhD
Todd, Barbara - BA, MA, DPhil
Tran, Nhung - MA, PhD
Troper, Harold - BA, MA, PhD
Viola, Lynne - BA, MA, PhD
Wark, Wesley - BA, BA, MA, PhD
Wayne, Michael - BA, BA, PhD
Williams, Derek - DPhil
Wilson, David - BA, MA, PhD
Wittmann, Rebecca - AB, MA, PhD
Wrobel, Piotr Jan - MA, PhD

Members Emeriti

Accinelli, Robert - BA, MA, PhD
Beattie, John - BS, MA, PhD, Fell Royal Society Canada, Fell Ryl Historical Societ
Berger, Carl - BA, MA, PhD
Berman, William - BA, MA, PhD
Bliss, J Michael - BA, MA, PhD
Brown, Robert Craig - MA, PhD
Brownlee, John - BA, MA, MPH
Callahan, William - AB, MA, PhD
Cook, Ramsay - MA, PhD
Davis, Natalie - BA, MA, PhD
Dent, Julian - BA, MA, PhD
Dyck, Harvey - BA, MA, PhD
Estes, James - MA, PhD
Finlayson, Michael - BA, PhD
Goffart, Walter - AB, AM, PhD
Grendler, Paul - BA, MA, PhD
Helmstadter, Richard - BA, MA, PhD
Higgs, David - BA, MA, PhD
Israel, Milton - BS, MA, PhD
Klein, Martin - BS, MA, PhD
Kornberg, Jacques - BA, PhD
Levere, Trevor - BA, MA, DPhil
Lloyd, Trevor - BA, MA, DPhil
Morton, Desmond - BA, MA, PhD
Nelson, Wendy - BS, MHSc
Raby, David - BA, PhD
Robertson, Ian - BA, MA, PhD
Robson, Ann - BA, MA, PhD
Van Kirk, Sylvia - BA, MA, PhD
Wagle, Narendra - BA, MA, PhD

Associate Members

Hanssen, Jens - BPhil, DPhil
Kwee, Hui Kian - BA, MA, PhD
Virani, Shafique - PhD
Young, William - MA, PhD 

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